Zveran doesn't speak again for some time. 

And then, finally, he stands, walks a small distance from them, and hangs his head. 

"You should go. Back to Macalania."

Aten flickers uncertainly.

Masque makes an inelegant sound. "When did I give you the impression that I gave up."

"I'm not asking you to give up. I'm asking you to leave." 

He doesn't want them to. His shoulders hunch. 

"You say that like I have anywhere else to go."

"You have the whole of Spira. Pick a place."

"No. I don't."

"Yes, you do. Masque-" He steps closer to them, takes their hands. "You're free. Better yet, you can protect Aten. He needs you."

"I guess I should've expected this." Masque practically hisses it.

"Probably." Zveran's heart absolutely shatters in his chest. If it gets Masque away, and safe, so be it. 

"Everyone just uses. One way or another. You had me fooled. You made me think you were different."

"Turns out I'm not. I'm just like everyone else." 

"Then I owe you nothing." It's spat out. "So why you think I'd do a task you promised to do yourself I don't know."

"I guess I'm hoping you'll do it anyway. Because Aten deserves it. But I ask for nothing."

Zveran shoulders his pack, and makes for the cave mouth. 

"You're crueler than Yevon ever was."

Zveran turns back, and his face is blank. 

"Then they taught me well."

"At least they never made me think I was worth anything."

"You're worth everything, Masque. And I'm sorry that I fooled you." 

Zveran turns away, and heads out of the cave.

"...Yevon never made me love him. You did."

Zveran's shoulders hitch up around his ears-

And then he disappears around the corner of the cave. 

And Masque drops their face into their hands.

They won't cry. Not for this, not for him.

(They will.)

Zveran lets his tears fall freely, every step closer to Zanarkand. 

Death will be a sweet release.

(This hurts, so much, and Aten doesn't know how to stop either of them hurting.)

It takes Zveran some time to reach the first task of Yevon in Zanarkand. He keeps stopping, falling to his knees, screaming at his own incompetence. He should've protected them. He should've kept them close. 

He hasn't loved anyone the way he loved Masque since Bambi, and yet he still spurned them. And maybe it was to protect them, and to protect Aten, but lies don't promote love. And he loves them. Yevon, it burns in him, the way he loves them, and-

I can dampen that pain. That love. Come to me, summoner.